I learned a ton in this (CSS) website creation process, but there are a couple of things I definitely would have done differently. For example, I would have chosen some sort of central theme for my website, and made the design consistent page-to-page with that theme. Instead, I just designed the header and thought having a neat, almost-transparent image in the background of all the content would be suitable, and while I like the design I created, it makes the text a little difficult to read. The site looks sort of old-fashioned, but I think it’s cute, functional, and easy-to-use. I plan on adding a few features later down the road, such as my AAD “Student Spotlight” video interview which will be completed soon. I like how my Resume page turned out. I initially had a bunch of text pulled straight from my resume, and I realized I might as well put a jpg that links to a pdf of the actual document instead. I also like the Professional Associations page, as all the jpgs link out to the organization’s websites. I would probably tweak some of the other pages–I’m not sold on “Work Samples” or “Research,” which look a little unwieldy. But overall, since this was a very steep learning curve for me, I am proud at what I accomplished in about five weeks’ time. If I choose to learn more about web design in the future, I have a solid foundation.

At the beginning of this term, I hoped to “better define both where I fall on the positivist/post-positivist spectrum, and what epistemology is appropriate for my research area.” As I worked through my various research ideas this term, I became very confident that my research will fall under a post-positivist umbrella. This does not mean that the positivist paradigm holds no value to me, only that the innate subjectivity of my research topic necessitates an acceptance of a gray area that positivism does not seem to accommodate. I think this is true of most exploratory (and often, social science-based) research.

I also stated, ” I also hope to discover a way to include surveying and experimental methods into my inquiry. I don’t know if it is possible to combine a more “hard science” approach with a softer social science approach, but both approaches to research interest me.” In my final research proposal, I did include surveys as a data collection tool, although I now think seeing surveys as “hard science” is a little short-sighted. It’s all in how the data is collected and analyzed that really determines what kind of lens the researcher is operating under, not necessarily the tool itself. Experimental methods are not likely to come into my data collection methods, because they just don’t have a place.

As my final learning objective, I explained, “Through this class, I want to learn the best way to design my research in order to meet that practical end, while working with concepts as subjective and slippery as “transformation” and “healing.”” The “practical end” to which I was referring involved creating a set of usable tools for music venues, which I have since moved away from. Furthermore, I am no longer dealing with the concepts of “transformation” and “healing” head-on, because it didn’t seem feasible. I really changed directions with my research, while still retaining the essence of my inquiry. Through this class, I believe I successfully identified the most appropriate research epistemology and data collection methods to align with my research interests.

Assignment description: Students create a timeline, a chronology of events to complete their websites. The timeline is an outline of calendar dates detailing activities with specific tasks necessary to complete the website.